The Play-Off: Microsoft vs. Nintendo

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The Play-Off: Microsoft vs. Nintendo

Xbox$299November 8The Xbox pumps iron without breaking a sweat. Thanks to its unique parallel architecture, a 733-MHz Pentium III CPU calculates the advanced AI of dozens of virtual foes while a 300-MHz Nvidia GPU simultaneously pushes 100 million-plus polygons of eye candy. In the developer kit games I played, such as Dead or Alive 3, combatants' hair and clothes flipped along with their kicks. And Project Gotham Racing's polished autos reflected light from both the sun and street lamps.

Load times for the DVD-based titles (a movie playback kit costs an extra $29) were on par with other 128-bit systems. It was between levels where I noticed a real improvement. The 8-gig hard drive not only cached data for faster in-game access, but also stored music. So, while playing a snowboarding title, I could choreograph frontside airs to my own soundtrack. The Ethernet port will let gamers use broadband to download goodies like bonus levels (but the prototype I played couldn't yet handle this). Add 256 audio channels and Dolby Digital 5.1 surround, and 3-D means more than lush visuals.

Unfortunately, the controller is as complex as the onscreen fireworks. Borrowing the triggers from the recently deceased Dreamcast and the directional pad from Microsoft's own Sidewinder, this brick comes with six action buttons and two analog sticks that, strangely, sit diagonally apart. Not nearly as elegant as the PS2's controller, its force feedback is just as responsive.

So what about the games? Though the console pushes the envelope graphically, its first line of games isn't nearly as inventive. With the exception of Halo and Fusion Frenzy, most of the launch titles feel like souped-up versions of games you know by other names. Shrek is a perfect example of the Xbox's beautiful-but-bored stage of early development. So much attention has been paid to the ogre and his environs (even the ripples in a small pond interacted with one another) that his mission seems secondary. The titles I checked out played like technical demos - all flash and no emotional connection to the characters. Developers have yet to take advantage of the futuristic hardware. The Xbox gets the details right. It just needs better scripts.

GameCube$199.95November 18Despite being outdistanced by Microsoft in hype, there's only one videogame maker for the PG- and hardcore-gaming set: Nintendo. The old-timer pushed back the release date of its long-awaited GameCube by 13 days to make sure there are enough to go around.

What the Cube lacks in raw processing power and onboard memory it makes up for in efficient hardware and elegant design. With its prominent handle and bold purple shell, the unit could be a pomo waffle iron or a Shibuya handbag. But like Mario, the Cube is painfully cute, deceptively mighty, and pure in its purpose.

The 485-MHz Power PC-based microprocessor and ATI graphics chip are bolstered by 24 Mbytes of dedicated SRAM that milk every last bit of graphics goodness out of them. The prototype I tested had a commercial controller running prerelease versions of several launch titles. As I maneuvered a stranded spaceman in Pikmin, a psychedelic 3-D strategy/action game from Shigeru Miyamoto of Mario and Zelda fame, scenes exploded with rich environments. The Cube didn't even stutter as I enlisted dozens of sprout-headed aliens to battle and search for parts to repair my craft.

The controller, the crucial tactile link in any game experience, is close to perfect. Slightly larger than the PS2's and not as ungainly as the Xbox's, it features two analog sticks - for movement and viewpoints - and a new (for Nintendo) built-in rumble function. I forgot almost immediately that I had an unfamiliar object in my hand.

Nintendo has finally ditched its game cartridges, which were notoriously difficult to develop for, in favor of 1.5-Gbyte discs. Previously alienated partners are coming back - Namco's to-die-for fighter Soul Calibur 2 and Sega's Sonic Adventure 2 are Cube-bound next year. Miyamoto and the game gods at Rare will offer Zelda,Mario,Starfox, and Perfect Dark exclusively for the Cube.

In the end, the GameCube is unashamedly devoted to gaming - and priced accordingly. It lacks any DVD playback or MP3 archiving capability. And Nintendo's wait-and-see approach to online gaming means no out-of-the-box Internet connectivity, although a 56K modem and broadband adapter are available separately. After several hours of play, I couldn't be more satisfied.